Side impact airbag modules have been provided in vehicles for protecting vehicle occupants in the event of a side oriented collision. Such side impact airbag modules have been installed in a variety of locations in the vehicle, including, for example, in the door, roof, A or B--pillars and also in the seats of the vehicle. When placed in seats of vehicles, such side airbag modules are generally anchored or secured to an internal structural member of the seat. Such seat mounted side airbag modules generally include a rigid plastic or an extruded or drawn or cast metal container-type housing which houses an inflator and an inflatable folded airbag cushion.
Typically, such rigid housing will have some type of deployment door which bursts open to permit deployment of the airbag out from the seat. While the airbag module is generally placed in a recess in the seat back, usually in a recess in the foam cushion portion of the seat back, the module cannot be located too close to the outer trim cover of the seat due to the hardness and rigidity of both the housing and its associated door since these can undesirably alter the smooth contour of the outer trim cover of the seat and also can produce hard or stiff areas that can cause discomfort to the seat occupant. However, when the airbag module is located in the recess in a location remote from the outer trim cover of the seat, deployment of the airbag through the desired deployment opening in the seat becomes problematic and unpredictable.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an integral housing or cover for a side airbag module that also acts as a deployment chute to consistently guide and direct the inflating airbag to the desired deployment location in the seat outer trim cover along a predetermined deployment path. A further object of this invention is to provide such a housing or cover for a seat mounted airbag module that is a unitary, single component cover that is easy to produce and is lightweight and is soft and flexible so as not to produce stiff points in the outer trim cover of the seat.